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How scores work

Every provider on this site has a score built from real reports submitted by people who have actually tried to use them. Here is exactly how that works.

The core principle

Insurance directories are often wrong. Providers listed as in-network may not actually accept your plan. Offices listed as accepting new patients may have a six-month waitlist or may route you to a different provider entirely.

Rather than trust what institutions say about themselves, this system tracks what users actually experience — and weights that experience by how recent it is and how consistent it is with other reports.

The three sub-scores

Insurance reliability

Did users who contacted this provider report that their insurance was actually accepted? Each report is weighted by how recent it is — a report from last week counts more than one from eight months ago. If reports contradict each other, the score reflects that uncertainty rather than hiding it.

No reports = 50% (unknown, not assumed good or bad). More recent consistent reports push toward 100%. Old or contradictory reports push toward 50%.

Availability

Is this provider actually accepting new patients? Recent user confirmations boost this score. Reports that they were not accepting patients, or were assigned to a different provider, lower it. Data that has not been verified in a long time decays toward neutral — we do not keep showing high confidence in old information.

Overall access score

A weighted combination of the two scores above, plus a baseline for operational reliability (things like whether the phone number works and whether appointments are kept). The weighting is: 50% insurance reliability, 30% availability, 20% operational baseline.

How time affects scores

Healthcare information changes constantly. A provider who was accepting Medicaid in January may have stopped in March. A score built from old data should not look the same as one built from recent data.

Every report decays in influence over time. Reports older than about 30 days contribute less. Reports older than 90 days contribute very little. If no one has submitted a verification in a long time, the score drifts toward neutral (50%) — which honestly reflects our uncertainty, not false confidence.

What we do not do

  • No paid placement. No provider has paid to appear higher in results or receive a better score. Rank is determined entirely by verified reliability.
  • No insurer favoritism. We do not accept payments or data arrangements from insurance companies that would influence which providers appear or how they are scored.
  • No hiding contradictions. If users report conflicting information about a provider, we show that conflict rather than averaging it away.
  • No selling your data. We do not track you, profile you, or sell information about your searches to anyone.

How to help

After you contact a provider, submit a verification on their page. It takes under a minute and directly improves the score for everyone searching after you. The system only works if people contribute what they learn.